As they walked to the car Guiying glanced at Liuxian sideways.

"You look good tonight," he said. Then after a beat, quieter, almost to himself, "Really good."

Liuxian looked down at him and said nothing but the corner of his mouth moved.

Guiying kept his eyes forward and pretended he had not said anything.

Liuxian opened the car door and offered his hand. Guiying took it without comment, stepping in carefully, very aware of the heels and refusing to let that awareness show.

The moment he settled into the seat he understood why tonight had a different car. The interior was another world entirely, warm leather, deep quiet, the kind of stillness that made you lower your voice automatically. Liuxian got in beside him and the car pulled out smoothly into the evening.

"Many of my friends are wealthy," Liuxian said. "It’s quite common for us to show off at gatherings. You’ll see tonight."

Guiying nodded. His eyes landed on the box on the seat across from them.

"What’s in there?"

"A gift for a good friend," Liuxian said. "A brother in arms."

Guiying looked at the box for a moment then looked out the window. He understood now. They were not going to a quiet dinner. They were meeting Liuxian’s people tonight. He adjusted his expectations accordingly and said nothing.

The city moved past outside.

Then he felt eyes on him.

He turned. Liuxian was looking at him with the unhurried attention of someone who had decided this was how he was spending the car ride and saw no reason to pretend otherwise.

"You really are beautiful," Liuxian said. Simply. Like stating the weather.

Guiying looked back out the window.

"Tu es tellement beau," Liuxian said. "Every time I look at you I think I’ve seen the best of it and then you turn slightly and I have to start again."

Guiying’s ears went red.

"Look at something else," he said.

"There is nothing else worth looking at," Liuxian said.

Guiying kept his eyes on the city outside and his hands folded in his lap and his expression carefully neutral despite everything happening to his ears.

After a comfortable silence Liuxian said, "I leave for the States after tonight."

Guiying turned. "For work?"

"A week in New York. Routine checks on the branch, a couple of meetings, nothing I can’t wrap up by day three." He looked at Guiying. "I’d like you to come with me. The remaining days are ours. Consider it our date."

Guiying looked at him.

America. Four days with no Xue family trail to manage, no alias obligations, no courthouse steps. Just a city neither of them had to perform in.

"Okay," he said.

Liuxian raised a brow. "Just okay?"

"What else do you want me to say?"

Liuxian smiled and looked forward.

"Mon étoile," he said softly.

"You’re doing that on purpose," Guiying said.

"Yes," Liuxian said pleasantly.

Guiying looked out the window and said nothing further but his ears stayed red for the rest of the drive.

The car pulled up outside the venue at eight on the dot.

Guiying looked out the window. It was not a restaurant.

It was a private event hall, warm light spilling from the windows onto the pavement outside. Through the glass he could already see people moving inside, the blur of a gathering already in progress.

He looked at Liuxian.

Liuxian looked back with the composed expression of a man who had planned this and was not going to apologize for it.

"This is not dinner," Guiying said.

"There will be food," Liuxian said.

Guiying looked at the building for one more second then looked back at Liuxian. "How many people?"

"People I trust," Liuxian said. "That’s all."

The driver came around and opened the door. Liuxian stepped out first and offered his hand. Guiying took it and stepped out onto the pavement, the heels finding their footing, and straightened up.

Liuxian tucked his hand into the crook of his arm and they walked in together.

The first person to see them was Jae.

He was mid conversation with Hao Lin when the doors opened and he looked up.

He took one look at Tang XiaoYu in that outfit and those heels and understood immediately and completely why his friend had left a board meeting for a courthouse, bought a rose gold Rolex on impulse, and was now planning a business trip around a date.

He nudged Hao Lin.

Hao Lin turned and looked.

"Oh..." Hao Lin said.

"Yeah," Jae said.

Liuxian walked them both across the room and Jae stepped forward with the easy warmth that was simply who he was.

"Tang XiaoYu," he said, already smiling. "I’m Jae. Welcome."

Guiying shook his hand. "Thank you for having me."

"Hao Lin," Jae said, pulling the man beside him forward. Hao Lin’s girlfriend was on his arm, sharp eyed and immediately focused on Guiying’s outfit with the appreciation of someone who knew exactly what she was looking at.

"That corset," she said, by way of greeting.

Guiying smiled. "Thank you."

Hao Lin waved with the slightly sheepish energy of a man who had already visited the food table twice and was hoping nobody had counted. "Good to meet you."

Lindong came over next with his wife, both of them warm and easy, the kind of couple that had clearly been together long enough to move through a room as one unit without thinking about it. His wife smiled at Guiying genuinely and Guiying liked her immediately.

Jae was the only one who had come alone, which he announced with the casual unbothered energy of a man who considered this a personal choice and a lifestyle.

Guiying moved through the introductions with the composed ease of Tang XiaoYu, art collector, social enough, giving nothing away. He was still taking in the room, the warmth of it, the white chrysanthemums on every table, the food laid out along the far wall, when Liuxian’s hand found the small of his back.

"There’s someone I want you to meet," he said quietly. "But first."

He looked toward the entrance.

The doors opened.

Jae had slipped out ten minutes ago without anyone noticing. He came back in now and beside him walked a man Guiying had not seen before. Tall, straight backed, with the kind of posture that came from years of being told to stand correctly and simply never stopping. He walked into the room and looked around with the measured calm of someone reading an environment before committing to it.

Then his eyes landed on the faces turned toward him and something in his expression shifted.

Jae was already talking beside him, gesturing at everything with the proud energy of someone who had worked very hard and wanted full acknowledgment.

Tian Huan looked at the white chrysanthemums on the tables. He looked at every face in the room. He pressed his lips together.

"Jae...." he said.